Music and politics. Politics. More music, please.
For this long-lived lesbian, events of the last 12 months have been politically disturbing and personally saddening.
In fact, 2016 was the worst one in this long-lived lesbian’s 56 years.
But as 2016 takes Madonna’s Instagrammed suggestion (“Can 2016 Fuck Off NOW?”), and as we mourn what was lost, let’s not forget the last 12 months’ high points.
The width and depth of diverse knowledge and insights shared by long-lived lesbians for this Curve column inspire me. In a world where fewer and fewer voices of older women (let alone gay women) are being heard, Curve’s Long-Lived Lesbian column champions and celebrates our ideas and imaginations. Here’s a review of the long-lived lesbian personalities and perspectives from 2016.
The early months included columns on two remarkable LLLs. We opened the year with an interview with Canadian musician and educator Kate Reid.
Next, our guest columnist Mary McGrath wrote a memorial tribute to an inspiring activist, LLL Jeanne Cordova.
April saw the first of four features on the US election, starting with a consideration of Hillary and Bernie, both of whom are honorary LLLs, despite their respective genders and hetero orientations.
The political conversation included a topic not so often found in lesbian media: abortion, and why it should matter to long-lived lesbians (even if we don’t get pregnant!).
In spring we took a short break from overtly political topics for some real cultchah: interviewing Wende Persons the librettist of the first opera to feature a lesbian couple.
In June, the Pulse nightclub shooting took over gay media everywhere. Our response, from an LLL point of view, combined sadness and anger – but mostly anger.
As always, reading your comments and emails kept us in touch with the real reason we do this – to be a voice and an outlet, as well as entertainment, for all women who love, listen to, or are long-lived lesbians. As the new US administration inevitably moves into place, we more than ever need to be heard and to listen to each other.